Although the inaugural Launch Week for our new 1Ls through the Parris Institute for Professional Formation is just two weeks away–and furious preparations are in full swing–that doesn’t mean that other law school events have taken a back seat. For instance, starting today, the extremely popular “Mediating the Litigated Case” program gets underway through the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.

You can read about the program and its all-star lineup of topics and faculty HERE.

One of Pepperdine Law’s claims to fame is the world-renowned Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. The Straus Institute has been ranked #1 in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution by U.S. News & World Report for nine consecutive years. Straus is at the forefront of preparing lawyers and neutrals to settle conflicts by utilizing the full range of dispute resolution processes, including negotiation, conciliation, mini-trials, judicial settlement, mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

First-year JD students are focused on the never-ending challenge of staying on top of their standard first-year courses.However, in the spring semester (i.e., now!), our 1Ls begin to be introduced to the possibilities that exist during their upper-division years.

Yesterday at lunch, for instance, the Straus Institute conducted an informational meeting for anyone interested in learning more about the dispute resolution programs available to Pepperdine students, including the Certificate and Master’s Degree. The deadline to apply to either program for current Pepperdine students will be February 13, 2014.

The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), California’s civil rights agency, announced the creation of another educational partnership, this time with Pepperdine University School of Law‘s renowned Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. The partnership will launch a new employment mediation clinic at Pepperdine.

The new employment mediation clinic, which began in August, will allow Department senior attorney-mediators to serve as clinical faculty at the Straus Institute. Students enrolled in the program will prepare Department cases for mediation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. In addition, they will gain practical experience mediating and settling employment discrimination complaints under the Department’s supervision.

“Our students will experience dispute resolution skills and techniques in all stages of the Department’s administration: pre-investigation, post-investigation, pre-civil complaint and class/group as well as individual complaints,” said Pepperdine University School of Law Dean, Deanell Tacha. “This is an invaluable partnership for Pepperdine students and the community. We are proud to be a part of it.” To read more, please go to: http://law.pepperdine.edu/straus/news/2013/employment-clinic.htm.

Pepperdine School of Law’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution http://law.pepperdine.edu/straus/default.htm was recently ranked the number one dispute resolution program in the country by U.S. News & World Report for the ninth consecutive year.

The remaining schools in the Top 5 for 2013 are Harvard University, University of Missouri-Columbia, Hamline University, and Ohio State University (Moritz).

The Straus Institute was established in 1986 as the first dispute resolution program in the Southwest. From the beginning, the institute has recruited prominent full-time faculty and practitioners from throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Asia.
Straus offers two tracks of training: professional training programs and academic programs including the Certificate, a Master’s (M.D.R.), and an LL.M. in dispute resolution.

Beginning in the fall, Straus will offer more than 40 different courses in dispute resolution including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, labor, entertainment dispute resolution, dispute resolution ethics, cross cultural conflict, psychology of conflict, and other areas. Courses are taught by six full time Pepperdine professors, 22 local adjuncts, and 35 adjuncts and visiting faculty from around the world.

Our JD students have the unique opportunity to gain valuable insights into the emerging dispute resolution field. Lawyers and neutrals add the important ability to settle conflicts through means like: negotiation, conciliation, mediation, arbitration and more.

Just another way Pepperdine Law is preparing students for Purpose, Service and Leadership.